Ends Meet
by fanoflost
Summary: Sequel to Saving Kate. Why did Jack leave Kate when she needed him most? JackKate. And will Jack ever voice his opinions on Locke? Alas, will Kate actually live to see tomorrow?
1. Let Me In

_(A/N: This is the sequel to Saving Kate. If you haven't read that story, then I advise you do, or you'll be hopelessly lost at first. Lol. Enjoy!)_

**Disclaimer**: In my (and LostRayne's) own little world, Evangeline would be married to Matt, and Josh would babysit their kids. Lol. Unfortunately, reality isn't as kind as my mind is, so I don't own Lost. And the lyrics go to Coldplay.

* * *

**-Ends Meet-**

**-Chapter 1-**

**-Let Me In-

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**

Stars shot out across the sky, flying to greet the nighttime darkness. Wheezing could be heard from a certain cave, along with mixed sobs of emotion.

Jack held Kate to his chest, rocking her back and forth, "You're okay. You're alive. Everything's okay…"

Kate was silent, the color regaining slowly in her otherwise pale face.

"…Kate?" Jack questioned, concern growing his voice.

Kate opened her mouth to speak, but closed it on second thought. She didn't want to hear anything -face anything- in her life just yet. Her eyesight traveled over the dark crevices in the cave, almost as if she was looking for something.

"Kate?" Jack repeated, "Can you talk?" His voice had reached a new level, and bittersweet tears still streamed down his face.

Kate looked over at him, still getting the feeling that she didn't want to talk just yet, and a certain hollow filled her eyes, the sparkle gone.

All Jack wanted to hear was her soothing voice, telling him it'd all be okay. Right now, he wasn't even sure if she'd make it through the night.

But nothing came from the beautiful woman lying against his chest. She couldn't even move.

Jack eased her back down onto the makeshift bed, making sure she was comfortable. Pulling a dark strand of her chocolate brown hair away from her face, he couldn't help but smile down at her. To see her this way made his heart break.

"J-Jack…" Kate managed out.

Jack jumped a little, surprised at the sound of her voice. "Yeah?" He didn't want to press too much down her all at once.

"Don't l-leave me here tonight." Kate avoided his eyes.

Jack sighed and caressed her hand lightly, "I won't ever leave you, Kate. I promise."

* * *

In the early hours of the morning, Kate woke up once more, her breath short. She could hear Jack beside her, sleeping lightly. He had finally given in to the world of slumber hours after Kate had surrendered to sleep. Kate had no intention of waking him up; he needed the rest badly. She didn't have the strength, nor the heart, to wake him for nothing.

She sat there silently, letting the wilderness sounds fill her ears, and the earthy smell fill her nostrils. A couple hours ago, it would have been possible that she would never do those things again. And the option still lay open, though it was growing thinner by the minute.

Earlier, she had heard Jack talking to Locke and Sun, explaining what had happened. It was obvious Jack still hated the man -the tone in his voice showed that- but someone had to know.

Now the morning twilight was just beginning to appear, erasing the depths of the night away. But memories were still inflicted upon Kate's mind, and it was apparent that she wasn't going to lose sight of them soon. Jack had actually told her he loved her, which had been a surprise to both of them. Him, because he never knew that he had the courage to speak words powerful as those again.

Kate quickly clamped her eyes shut as Jack stirred. She didn't want to face the awkward moment that was bound to happen yet.

-LOST-

_Steal my heart and hold my tongue.  
I feel my time, my time has come.  
Let me in, unlock the door.  
I've never felt this way before.

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_

_(A/N: So, how'd you like it? R&R! Also, sorry for the short chapter, update tomorrow.)_


	2. Make It Better

_(A/N: Thanks to my reviewers. Alas, Ethan is dead… for now. ((evil laugh)) But this chapter is mainly fluff, and a bit of angst at the end. Enjoy!)_

**Disclaimer: **I think we all know this by now… Don't own Lost. And the lyrics of 'Hey Jude' go to The Beatles.

* * *

-Ends Meet- 

-Chapter 2-

-Make It Better-

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A couple long days later, Charlie had entered the cave to check up on things. The man he saw surprised him. It was indeed Jack, but this Jack look more tired. More worn, like the duties of life were slowly wearing him away. 

"Man, get out. Now." Charlie said, pulling Jack's arm. "You can't just sit here and watch her!"

"She told me not to leave her!" Jack protested, wrenching his arm away.

"You can for a couple hours! Not like she's going to come after you or anything…" Charlie examined Jack's face. Dark circles lay under his eyes, and tear routes had stained his cheeks.

"Charlie, just go. I'm fine." Jack avoided his eyes.

"I think everyone's going to back me up when I say this. Jack, you have to let go. Just go to the beach or something." Charlie shook his head. If the doctor got this messed up over Kate, the Island life would soon come to an end.

"But no one would be here to watch her! What if she goes un-stable?" Jack couldn't bring himself to say the word 'die'. Not yet.

"Believe me, we'll come and get you if anything happens." Charlie replied. "Now, just get up, and go do something. Like, oh here's an idea, maybe you could even _eat_ for once." Charlie noticed that Jack was losing weight, a little bit at a time. He admired Jack for wanted to conserve the food, but he also thought the man was completely stupid for not eating at all.

Jack gave a small, forced laugh, "Okay, okay, I get the idea. But if _anything_ happens…"

"…You be the first to know." Charlie finished. "Now go! The survivors will watch over her, promise."

* * *

Claire put on a smile at Kate stirred, her face wincing at the gunshot wound. It had been wrapped up, and Jack had confirmed that it would heal, but it still gave her a sense of uneasiness. She knew Kate had to be in a lot of pain, and Claire thanked her lucky stars that Kate's hangover had been yesterday and not today. Jack had dealt with the difficult part of it, now it was time to just sit back and wait as she slowly got better. The only problem was that Jack was an impatient man when it came to Kate. "Hello there." 

Kate gave a yawn and rolled over as best she could. "You aren't Jack." She answered as her hand flew up to rub the sleep out of her eyes. Her arm was still killing her, though she was sure she'd be in a whole lot more pain if Jack hadn't have found her. "Is he okay?"

"Yeah, he's fine. He and Charlie went to go skip some rocks at the lake. We finally forced him out of here." Claire laughed at the thought of the doctor and rock-star skipping rocks together. In the real world, that would of never happened, at least not with two full-grown men.

Kate smiled, at least he had let go enough to take a break. That's what she wanted him to do. Let go of her. She knew they would never make it together in the real world, and she didn't want to leave the hard way; the way that included screaming in tears as she got forced into a police car, never to see the daylight again. In fact, she would never make it with anyone. After Tom had died, her heart was too broken to be mended by any other man. "That's good."

Claire examined Kate's eyes, filled with sorrow, but it wasn't the kind of hurt that you get physically. She knew that face anywhere, it was the face you got when you were in love, but didn't know how to respond. "You know, I can get Jack, if you want…" She replied. Maybe all Kate wanted to do was to tell Jack, before anything else happened. Claire knew that life could change in a blink of an eye, and that the very next day she could be possibly at Kate's funeral.

"No, no." Kate shook her head. The last thing she wanted to be doing was having a heart-to-heart conversation with Jack. "I don't think I can talk to him right now…" She tried to suppress the thoughts of her rejecting him, she already felt horrible enough for all of this.

* * *

"So… You and Kate, 'eh?" Charlie grinned as the rock released from his hand and shot across the calm waters. He knew this had moment come, he was just another random person who happened to stumble upon the relationship that was Jack and Kate, and who automatically got sucked in like a fan of some horrible TV-show soap opera that was so bad that you had to keep on watching it. _(A/N: Lost is not some horrible TV-show soap opera. It's not even a soap opera, it's a drama! A very good one, mind you. :) )_ He turned to Jack for an answer. 

Jack just threw another rock silently, watching it skim the top of the water, causing a ripple effect. That's what life was, a ripple effect. You did something, and it caused something else to happen. Take surgery for example, you opened up the person, fixed whatever was wrong, and then closed them up, leaving them to feel like never before. Jack just wished that life could be as easy as that.

Charlie's eyes followed the rock, and again he skipped another. "Come on, man, you've got to talk to someone. It's not like we don't know what's going on between you two." The rock crashed beneath the water, and the waves casually stopped. Charlie stared at the man, trying to make himself useful so Jack could at least let some stuff out. Jack was just a bottle of pressure, waiting patiently to explode.

"I honestly don't know if we're together at this point or not." Jack quietly said, and instead of throwing the rock, he tightened his grip on it. "I guess we've sort of been avoiding each other." It was true; Jack knew this for a fact. Whenever he woke up, or tried to examine Kate from a doctor's view, all he got was either her pretending to sleep or a cold shoulder. That's not to say he wasn't doing it also. They hadn't had a real conversation in days, and the times he tried to talk, or she tried to talk, all they got was silence from the other.

Charlie was dumbstruck to hear this actually come out of Jack's mouth. Never in his time on the island had he seen the doctor so insecure. "Well, then you just wait. You two will come to your senses eventually." He knew this talk wouldn't keep up for long, so he tried to get as much out of it as he could. The other survivors needed to know what the hell were up with these two anyway.

-LOST-

_Hey Jude, don't let me down.  
You have found her, now go and get her.  
Remember to let her into your heart,  
Then you can start to make it better._

-LOST-

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_(A/N: So, how was chapter two for you guys? I got a new sense of writing style after the second line, and I think it give a whole lot more insight on the characters. :) Happy 4th of July! ((random fact of the day)) Did you know that today, 229 years ago, we declared independence from Great Britain? But we didn't win it until 1781.)_

Okay, this chapter, it's really important that you review, so then you can tell me if you'd like to see me go on with this new sense of writing of mine. Thanks!


	3. Sometimes

_A/N: Sorry for the long time of no updates. Last week was really hard on me._

**Disclaimer:** Don't own Lost. Coldplay owns the song 'The Scientist', not me.

* * *

**-Ends Meet-  
**_-Chapter 3-_  
-Sometimes-

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Kate sighed, a thin blanket of sleep covering her as the evening turned to twilight. Claire had left earlier upon hearing Aaron sob in his sleep. Charlie had returned soon after that, and the two had disappeared into a cave for the night. Jack hadn't been seen, and as much as Kate wanted to deny it, she was worried for him.

**Flashback**

_"Tom!" Kate laughed as her hands flew over the buttons of the tape recorder. She hadn't felt this way in a long time, not since her father left. A smile formed across her lips as she looked over at the 13-year-old guy next to her, a boyish grin on his face._

_"What, Katie? It's true! We will get married, and we'll have 7 children together! Don't deny it, I know you don't want to." He laughed, a sense of comfort there. It was true, he really had hoped this would happen someday._

_"I know! But this is for the time capsule. We don't want to plan out our future, we want to live it as it happens to us. More fun, more risky, that way." Kate had been known for a risk-taker in her town, and she wasn't about to change her ways._

_"Good point, Katie. But I want us to know what we were thinking when we pull this up out of the ground 20 years later." He smiled, and kissed her gently on the lips._

_Kate sighed dramatically, "Fine, say what you must." She grinned at him, and pressed the record button._

**Un-Flashback**

A sound of flip-flops moving across the rock woke Kate up early the next morning, and she opened her eyes gently only to see Jack resuming his position of sitting next to her. "Kate?" He whispered, "Wake up."

Kate quickly closed her eyes, and pretended to shift in her sleep at the sound of his voice. She didn't want to face him, and she wasn't, for as long as she could help it.

"Come on, Kate… I know you're awake. …We need to talk." His voice dropped slightly at the last sentence, and Kate knew he wasn't looking forward to it.

Neither was she.

Silently, though as much as her mind told her not to, she sat up, and looked into Jack's chocolate brown eyes. They pierced right through her, and his look was unforgiving. "We've been avoiding each other." He wasn't trying to make small talk, he just went up right to the problem, just like he always did.

"You know, we could have just been catching each other at bad times." She lied. Her voice was squeaky almost, and she didn't recognize it as her own.

"Stop lying, Kate. Excuses will get you nowhere in the real world." Jack shot back. He hadn't meant to sound as harsh as he had been, but he was just starting to get angry now. He wanted to know if Kate really loved him back, or if this was some sick game she played with everyone.

Her expression hardened, and her eyes turned on him, an unforgiving look glittered in them. "Excuse me for being pleasant." But the conversation had just turned nasty, and both knew that neither would back down until they got answers.

"Oh, so this is what you consider being pleasant? Wow, don't I feel just at home." Jack spoke back, a sarcastic factor lining it. He knew exactly where he was headed, and surprisingly enough, he felt good about it, Maybe breaking away from her would just be the best.

"Not my fault that my dad didn't teach me the ways of being polite." Her face was slowly turning a deeper shade of pink, compliments of this argument.

"That's because he was too busy running away from his family." Jack knew he had hit the nail right on the head, and Kate rolled over, her back to him.

She didn't want him to see that he had won, that he had just went from nothing to jackass in seconds. "Go to hell, Jack." Her voice tore, and she could feel the tears welling up in her eyes.

In the late morning, Kate found herself waking in a different cave, and it was Charlie and Claire by her side, not Jack. And somehow, that made her feel even worse.

-LOST-

_Nobody said it was easy,  
It's such a shame for us to part.  
Nobody said it was easy,  
No-one ever said it would be this hard,  
Oh take me back to the start. _

I was just guessing at numbers and figures,  
Pulling your puzzles apart.  
Questions of science, science and progress,  
Do not speak as loud as my heart.

-LOST-

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_A/N: Extremely sorry for the short chapter. I hopefully will update soon with a longer one. Left you with a small cliffie there, sorry about that._


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